Prison Notes

Barbara Deming spent nearly two months in a jail in Albany, Georgia, where the Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo March for Peace on which she was embarked with thirty-four other demonstrators was halted by the local authorities. Their use of non-violent means of protest did not terminate with their internment. Their principal weapon was a refusal to eat -- so drastic that some required force-feeding in the hospital. Barbara Deming writes of the philosophy behind this noncooperation or non-violence as a dramatic technique, a method of persuasion. The decisions of each prisoner on how to proceed in the face of his conviction and their collective stamina force the reader as well to consider the stakes. The demonstrators won a victory and were freed to march on through the town where they had been arrested.

Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks are one of the most important and original sources of modern political philosophy but the Prison Notebooks present great difficulties to the reader. Not originally intended for publication, their fragmentary character and their often cryptic language can mystify readers, leading to misinterpretation of the text. The Routledge Guidebook to Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks provides readers with the historical background, textual analysis and other relevant information needed for a greater understanding and appreciation of this classic text. This guidebook: Explains the arguments presented by Gramsci in a clear and straightforward way, analysing the key concepts of the notebooks. Situates Gramsci’s ideas in the context of his own time, and in the history of political thought demonstrating the innovation and originality of the Prison Notebooks. Provides critique and analysis of Gramsci’s conceptualisation of politics and history (and culture in general), with reference to contemporary (i.e. present-day) examples where relevant. Examines the relevance of Gramsci in the modern world and discusses why his ideas have such resonance in academic discourse Featuring historical and political examples to illustrate Gramsci's arguments, along with suggestions for further reading, this is an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to engage more fully with The Prison Notebooks

That Smell is Sonallah Ibrahim’s modernist masterpiece and one of the most influential Arabic novels. Composed in the wake of a five-year prison sentence, the semi-autobiographical story follows a recently released political prisoner as he wanders through Cairo, adrift in his native city. That Smell is Sonallah Ibrahim’s modernist masterpiece and one of the most influential novels written in Arabic since WWII. Composed after a five-year term in prison, the semi-autobiographical story follows a recently released political prisoner as he wanders through Cairo, adrift in his native city. Living under house arrest, he tries to write of his tortuous experience, but instead smokes, spies on the neighbors, visits old lovers, and marvels at Egypt’s new consumer culture. Published in 1966, That Smell was immediately banned and the print-run confiscated. The original, uncensored version did not appear in Egypt for another twenty years. For this edition, translator Robyn Creswell has also included an annotated selection of the author’s Notes from Prison, Ibrahim’s prison diaries—a personal archive comprising hundreds of handwritten notes copied onto Bafra-brand cigarette papers and smuggled out of jail. These stark, intense writings shed unexpected light on the sources and motives of Ibrahim’s groundbreaking novel. Also included in this edition is Ibrahim’s celebrated essay about the writing and reception of That Smell.

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was the founder and leader of the Legion of St. Michael the Archangel, otherwise known as the Iron Guard, in Romania between 1927 and 1938. While many of the revolutionary nationalist movements of the period are long forgotten, Codreanu's movement continues to be studied today. The reason is because Codreanu envisioned the Legion as being not simply a political movement, but rather a knightly order in which all members were suffused with the spirit of God, self-sacrifice and the essence of the Romanian people. This is no more evident than in his Prison Notes, which he kept after being imprisoned on false charges by the government. Although the judiciary was unwilling to sentence him to more than ten years' labour, Codreanu was 'shot while trying to escape' shortly after these notes were written. His body was then rendered unrecognisable with acid and clandestinely buried under seven tons of concrete to hide the crime. The Prison Notes are the testimony of a man who, while disappointed by the corruption and ill treatment he faces, remains strengthened by the power of his faith and commitment to a higher cause. Also included in this volume are translations of all of Julius Evola's essays on the subject of Codreanu. Evola, who met Codreanu in Bucharest shortly before his arrest, recognised in Codreanu a kindred spirit who saw profane politics only as a means toward a restoration of genuine hierarchy and aristocracy. We have also appended a series of rarely-seen photos of the Iron Guard and Codreanu to this volume to complete the record of a movement which has withstood and transcended the test of time."

"...[I]n the autumn of 1926, on the pretext of an alleged attempt on his life, Mussolini decided to make an end of even the semblance of bourgeois democracy that still survived. All remaining opposition organisations and their publications were banned, and a new, massive series of arrests was launched throughout the country. Among those arrested was Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci was a member of parliament -- but the régime was no longer interested in niceties about parliamentary immunity. He had also, since August 1924, been the general secretary of the Communist Party -- though of course under such political conditions the identity of party officials was kept secret. He was 35 years old. At his trial in 1928, the official prosecutor ended he peroration with the famous demand to the judge: "We must stop this brain working for twenty years!" But, although Gramsci was to be dead long before those twenty years were up, released, his health broken, only in time to die under guard in a clinic rather than in prison, yet for as long as his physique held otu his jailers did not succeed in stopping his brain from working. The product of those years of slow death in prison were the 2,848 pages of handwritten notes which he left to be smuggled out of the clinic and out of Italy after his death, and of which this volume is a selection." -- Pages xvii-xviii of Introduction.

Hailed by Terry Eagleton in the Guardian as "definitive," this is the only complete and authoritative edition of Antonio Gramsci's deeply personal and vivid prison letters.